Alfirin
by Archiril
Summary: After Gandalf's fall into Moria, the Fellowship griefs, and Legolas loses hope. Seems like a classic theme, but it isn't! You'll understand why. One-shot.


**I'm still thinking about a sequence to My Estel, but this little story just came up in my head and begged to be written down. I hope you like it! I changed a little after my beta corrected it, so every error is mine!**

**BETA: thewayfaringstrangers**

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**Angelfabeth: Don't worry, I don't know it either :P How are you today?**

**the Crimson Mage: What's the highest I can get? :)**

**Muirgheal-of-Lantern-Waste: You make me blush -again :P Thank you so very much! :)**

**Nessa-ar-Feiniel: That story will come up later :) Hope you like this one too :)**

**theButterflyCurse996: Off course I will! I like your reviews far too much :P**

**Ynnealay: Oh yeah, right, I didn't post it as completed :P Good you mentioned! :P**

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"I say we have to go to Minas Tirith! We can find food and rest there, and the Winds know we need them most desperately!"

"Boromir, you do not understand! We cannot afford the delay! Every day, Mordor grows stronger. If we wait, I fear it will be impossible for us to reach Mount Doom unnoticed!"

"As if it isn't nigh impossible now! Why are you so reluctant to enter my city, Aragorn? Do you disdain the land of our fathers now that you have seen those flighty elven havens? Do you choose that haughty elf lord above my father, king of Minas Tirith and Gondor?"

"Watch your tongue, Boromir! I will not suffer ignorant insults about Lord Elrond! You do not –"

"Steward." Both men fell silent and turned to the elf, who was leaning against a lone tree, as far from the dwarf as possible. Legolas did not look at them. Instead, he kept on staring in the distance, his gaze as emotionless as his voice.

"Steward. Lord Denethor is a Steward, Boromir, not a king. I'm sure you have not forgotten that." The man, who had been quite angry by that time, grew even redder in the face.

"I will not take insults from you, elf! You do not know anything about my father!" Legolas just sighed, but didn't answer. After a few minutes, he heard the two men resume their quarrel. They were very swift to anger today. Especially Aragorn. In other circumstances, the Ranger would have just heard out Boromir's heated arguments, before replying in reason and calmness. But not today. Not after what happened.

Grieving, Legolas closed his eyes. Mithrandir. How he wished the wizard was still with them. If he didn't look over at their defeated band, he could almost hear his temperate voice concluding the fight, and see him scowling at the two men. The vision was so lifelike…

But still a vision, for when he opened his eyes again, he didn't see the wizard. Instead** h**e saw the dwarf Gimli, sturdy and solid as the rock he was sitting on, his dark eyes clouded in grief –an emotion Legolas didn't expect to see in such gruff creature. And huddled close to each other, he saw the Hobbits. The shock upon young Pippin's face. The grief plain in Merry. The sorrow and concern from Sam. And the despair on Frodo's face now that their guide and friend was gone. But not the wizard.

And all of a sudden, a wave of hopelessness surged over the elf. He rose abruptly, noting out of the corner of his eyes how the hobbits and even Gimli looked up to him with a pale glimmer of hope, a desperate call that he would take the lead, that he would take away their grief. But he didn't care. He addressed on the two quarreling men with a soft voice, heavy in grief and anger."

"Why are you arguing?" Aragorn sighed deeply, rubbing his temples.

"Boromir here deems it wise to linger in his home, while we actually-"

"Does it matter anymore?" the elf interrupted. His friend looked up a bit surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean? This whole quest was hopeless from the beginning. To sneak into Mordor unnoticed? To bring under His Eye the very object he is so bent on finding? You know as well as I that this is just suicide! I only believed we could do it because Mithrandir seemed so sure about it. And now he's gone. He is gone and we will never destroy the Ring!"

He didn't wait for an answer. Swiftly, he turned around and stormed away towards the embrace of the forest. The trees welcomed him, but he paid them no heed. Many dark emotions were stirringin his heart, and he did not even climb the large oak near a clear pool, afraid of the solace and concern it might bring. Instead, he fell upon the grass and closed his eyes. The green smell of the ground soothed him. Very slowly, the myriads of thoughts in his mind quieted down and disappeared, until he was staring blankly at the sky. Only one thought remained, or rather an image. The shock and despair on the faces of those he left behind.

He felt a pang of guilt. Who was he to aggravate the situation further with thoughtless words? Why had he taken away the frail hope most of them were still clinging to? For even the two men must have felt as if not all was lost, if they took so much effort to make the next step the right one in their eyes. But then again, what was deceiving hope worth? Perhaps it was better that all now understood the hopelessness of their situation.

But still, the guilt kept on gnawing on him. Perhaps he should have been more diplomatic, suggesting they wouldreturn to Rivendell to seek Elrond's advice_._ Perhaps another solution would havecome up then, one that wouldn't require the Ring to be brought to the Enemy himself. But who would ever want to go back to Moria?

Valar, what did they have to do now? Why had the Song taken away their guide and leader? How could one now expect they would fulfill their task?

"Have you found it?" Within a few seconds, Legolas was up and armed again, balancing his knife against the slender neck of an elf-maiden. The girl to whom the silvery voice belonged, didn't seem afraid at all. She merely pushed his weapon away from her flesh, still looking at him curiously. The few raven black locks that had escaped her long braid lost their touch with her cheek when she cocked her head questioningly.

"Have I found what?"

"I don't know. You are the one who _was_ searching, weren't you? Although I think it's quite odd you're looking for something you don't know you're looking for."

"I wasn't looking for anything," Legolas answered, slightly confused.

"Then why were you with your face in the earth?"

"I was thinking." The girl demonstratively turned her gaze towards the large oak near the pool.

"I know better places to think." This time, Legolas frowned, a bit irritated.

"Well, I just didn't want to climb. Why does it matter to you?" The girl clearly chose to ignoring his faintly offensive tone.

"You have grass in your hair." Quickly, Legolas reached up with his hand, growling softly when he found she was right. The green intruders were on the ground within the minute. When he shook his hair out of his face again, the girl was sitting some steps further upon a thick branch sticking out over the stream, her bare feet dangling restlessly in the crystal water. She looked at him and stuck out her tongue in a childish way.

"Your hair is beautiful again, don't worry! I'm sure the Lady would have allowed you to enter her realm if you had taken a mud bath, but perhaps you'll now impress the trees so that they will give you more shade then your companions, or the bushes to provide you with more berries than they would have," she mocked him. Legolas scowled.

"Who are you?" She ignored him again.

"Why don't you sit here with me for a while? The air is warm and the water nicely cold. It's a perfect day to sit near a pool and talk!" Legolas hesitated for a few seconds. He really didn't understand this strange maiden – but he really didn't want to go back to the heavy atmosphere of the clearing. Besides, for all her antics, she made him forget his troubles for a while.

So he quietly went over to the tree and sat down beside the girl. She smiled at him.

"You know, at first I thought you were searching for Minaeras 'Alfirin. They say that, when you're very lucky, you can see them blossoming near the Golden Wood. But I didn't quite understand what you were doing so close by the ground. I imagine you would see them in the grass when you're upright too, don't you think? So I decided to ask. You're very quick with your weapons." He really didn't know whether she meant that as a a compliment or an admonishment**, **so he decided to focus on another point she said.

"You speak of Minaeras 'Alfirin, Immortal Flowers of Unicorns. I thought these animals were nothing but a myth?" She looked at him with big eyes, clearly wondering whether he was mocking her, or whether he really didn't know. Legolas' questioning expression however, convinced her that the last possibility was the case. Still, she seemed amazed at his ignorance.

"You really believe they don't exist? But then how could the Alfirin grow?"

"I really don't understand you."

"You are such a fool, archer!" She grinned friendly. "Every child knows that the alfirin only grow on places where the unicorns have stepped. They are just very shy, that's why you never see them! But the alfirin speaks of their presence as clearly as I speak now to you! They say that these flowers never die, just as their noble protectors, and that their white leafs hold the same purity as the silvery horn and manes of the unicorns." Her face was so shining with childish wonder that Legolas felt regret to contradict her. Still, he could not help himself.

"Off course every child knows. It's nothing but a children's tale, told by their mothers to give them happy dreams, just as they speak of faeries dancing in the moonlight. Do you believe in them too?"

Against his expectations, she didn't speak further. For a moment he felt a pang of guilt and fear that he had offended her, but her silence was not one of bitterness and anger, but rather of rest and peace. And slowly, Legolas felt himself relaxing. For the first time since his flight to the forest, he opened up his senses again. The Song of the forest soothed him. Then, a thought welled up inside of him.

"You spoke of the Lady. Why do you think we are going to the Golden Wood?"

"Where else would you go? Oh, it is a secret isn't it?"

"Why would you think that?"

"You're so very suspicious! If you didn't have anything to hide, you would think logically and see that the Golden Wood is the only place hereabout to go to –but when this voyage needs to be secret, you jump up when somebody knows about you're 'secret destination'! So, it's a secret, right? Can you tell me?" Legolas smiled lightly, knowing instinctively she meant him no harm. Still, he wasn't going to tell her anything, so he nodded.

"Yes, it is a secret."

"And you will not tell me?"

"Then-"

"It would not be a secret anymore. Yeah, right." She pouted a little, but quickly gave up and laughed. Her laughter was so clear and merry that Legolas had no choice but to grin too, his spirits lifted. She sounded so joyful, as if no pain in the world could touch her. Sighing contently, he leaned back against the trunk and blessed these few moments he could push away his worries and grief. His eyes closed slowly.

"Oh please, don't go to sleep! You're so boring." Legolas squinted annoyed.

"If you don't want me to fall asleep, then please entertain me with a story of your life. Who are you?"

"Oh, didn't I introduce myself? How impolite of me!" Her cheerful tone belied any regret she might feel. "They call me Tegihartha or Caladebin, and the poets give me the name Lanthir or sometimes even Sadorestë, but you can call me Iris if you like." Legolas raised his eyebrows.

"You carry many noble names, my lady." She laughed again.

"Why did you ask my name when you are determined not to use it?" Legolas grumbled a bit, but didn't comment, so Iris continued. "Now that you know my name – even though you don't want to use it-, will you now tell me yours?"

"It's Legolas."

"Bless you!"

"What?"

"Oh, I thought you sneezed!" she giggled. "You have a funny name." Legolas scowled.

"At least I have only one name, not a variety of them so that nobody knows what to call you."

"So that's why you call my your lady! You can't choose which one is the most beautiful!"

"I can't choose which one is the least pompous. And besides, I was just being polite, but perhaps you don't understand what that means," the elf bit back, but the mirth in his eyes filed off the sharp edges. Iris just snorted, but kept silent. Again, a peaceful silence reigned over the little pool, and against his will, Legolas dozed off. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the maiden spoke again, but in contrary to her previous words, her tone was solemn now, with a hint of sadness.

"You said you weren't searching, but I think you were indeed looking for something."

"Like what?" Legolas murmured, half-asleep. He felt Iris laying a gentle hand upon his heart.

"Hope." For a few moments, Legolas didn't answer, collecting his thoughts. Then he fixed a serious gaze on her.

"What do you know?" Iris didn't answer his look. Instead, she stared at the water in the pool, as if she saw a story there. Her voice seemed far away when she spoke.

"I know that a friend of yours, a powerful wizard, has fallen into shadow. He was your guide and your light in the darkness, but now he's gone. I sense that your friends have lost hope too. They think their secret quest is forlorn without him, and so do you." Legolas acknowledged her words with a mournful nod. His eyes were still closed, so that he did not see the small smile around Iris lip's as she continued.

"But you are wrong. I see grief for you, and many dark nights before you reach a place of rest, where you will heal. The future isn't lost yet. Trust in your own strength, your own instincts, and you will prevail. You will see light again. But do not let your guard down, Legolas. There is a traitor in your midst." That captured Legolas' attention.

"A traitor? I cannot believe that! Who?" She shook her head sadly.

"That I cannot quite see."

"You must be mistaken."

"Perhaps. But Legolas, promise me you'll heed my warning! If I'm wrong, nothing is lost by watching closely, isn't it?" She held his gaze until he nodded.

"I will, Iris."

"So you remember my name! I am impressed!" Her solemn expression was gone in a second, and she laughed again. "Go to sleep, Legolas. You need some rest!"

"So do I have your permission now? Will I not be too boring for you, my lady?" he teased her.

"Whether you have my permission or not, I don't think you really care, do you now? Close your eyes, Legolas, and sleep. No harm will come to you here." The archer wanted to say something, but Iris was right. He was very tired. Without knowing it, he leant back and closed his eyes. And within a minute, he was fast asleep. Only vaguely he heard her voice one last time.

"If ever darkness threatens to overwhelm you, Legolas, then think of me. Think of this moment. And remember to look for the alfirin, for they speak of the purity and wonder that is not yet lost in this world."

When he woke up, she was gone. Not even a footstep, or a broken blade of grass betrayed that there had ever been a girl here. And after an hour of searching, Legolas had to admit that he would not find her again, not until she wanted him to. So he went back to the fellowship, and spoke words of hope to them, words that Iris had instilled in him. And as she had said, after many dark nights, they reached the haven of Lothlorien, where they found peace and solace. And many months later, when he was standing above the Wall of Helm's Deep, he remembered that one day near the crystal pool, and he found hope again.

But whether he ever saw Iris again, is a story for another time.

**Please review! :P**

**xXx Archiril**


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